Detroit Lions overrated, says rival GM

Detroit Lions head coach Jim Schwartz applauds on the sidelines during the second quarter of a game against the San Francisco 49ers in San Francisco. Is Schwartz overrated, as one rival GM claims? (AP Photo)

ALLEN PARK — Dominic Raiola got even more fired up on Tuesday when he heard comments made by two anonymous NFL executives about the Detroit Lions being overrated.

“If they had any balls they’d say who they were. That sounds like a coward statement to me,’’ the Lions center said on Tuesday. “Anonymous? That’s kind of whack.’’

The quotes were featured in a Pro Football Weekly post on Monday.

Perhaps it feeds the chip on the collective shoulder of the Lions who have started the season with a disappointing 1-3 record.

Advertisement

“That fires me up. You take a shot at the Lions organization, that ain’t right,’’ Raiola said.

The rival general manager, who was unnamed, said that general manager Martin Mayhew and coach Jim Schwartz are both overrated. He also ripped Ndamukong Suh (said he belongs on all-hype team) and Cliff Avril for being not that good.

“If I could say eff ’em I would. I’ll say eff him, I can’t say the word, but I’ll say eff ’em,’’ Raiola said. “Talk about having each other’s back in here, if you don’t take that personal you’re in the wrong place.

“(Mayhew and Schwartz) work hard putting the right talent on the field. They bust their ass doing this, it’s on us to have their back and the best way to have their back is on the field,’’ Raiola added.

Schwartz didn’t have much reaction to the unnamed criticisms.

“I can’t comment on anonymous things, we’re 1-3 that’s the thing we are right now,’’ Schwartz said. “We need to go win, we’re judged on winning in this league, we’re not judged on popularity contests or what somebody says under the cloak of anonymity, we’re not judged by power rankings I’ve said that a bunch of times. We’re judged by the number of games we win over the course of 16 games. We’re a 1-3 team that’s looking for a win.’’

The Lions are coming off a bye week which is a good time to reflect, correct, get away and rest up.

It couldn’t have come at a much better time.

They’ve cleared their minds, and are ready to face the 3-2 Eagles at Philadelphia.

“We’re a 1-3 football team and there’s nothing else that we can do about that right now other than go play this next game. You have to look at the reason you had success and the reasons you failed,’’ Schwartz said.

“I don’t think it’s a stretch to say we’re a couple plays away from being 3-1. It doesn’t matter we’re still 1-3 there’s no consolation or anything else but when I say we fine-tune, there’s a difference between fine tune and overall,’’ Schwartz added.

Follow @PaulaPasche on Twitter. Order her new book, “100 Things Lions Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die’’ here. It’s also available at bookstores.